Yebo

Design and illustration: Alexander Vidal
Project Type: Commercial Work
Packaging Content: Energy bar
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA

Yebo is a company that makes energy bars from the fruit of the coffee plant. In the early days of coffee consumption, Ethiopian shepherds would bind the coffee fruit into a bar for easy consumption in the highlands. In the current economy, the fruit is usually discarded when the coffee bean is harvested, creating an incredible amount of waste. By using the coffee cherry as the basis for a protein bar, Yebo puts this nutrient rich food to use, and gives coffee farmers an additional income. For the company brand and the design of the packaging, Yebo wanted something that would be both traditionally African, but also bright, bold and modern. A variety of African source materials were researched for shape, color, and pattern, including Ndebele architecture, Malian carving, and West African wax cloth. The final packaging design aimed to pay tribute to the continent’s incredible visual traditions, while still providing a bold shelf presence to grab consumers’ attention.